Hi... I have looked through other posts in this subject to see if my questions had been answered elswhere but cant find anything.
In the last few weeks Jasper has really come out of his shell, he is now very willing to come out of the cage and if I go toward the cage at all he will readily fly to me usually on my shoulder and just goes about with me. When he is not on me he will sit on a perch that I have screwed to the outsde of the cage now and again climbing inside to eat or drink or just climb ontop. He spends a lot of time preening, or that is what I guess he is doing. That leads to my first question... When he does this to his chest feathers or some under the wings he just seems to ruffle them up, when doing it to the wings the beak starts at thetop of the feather and like runs it down to the tip continually. Does this sound like preening? I am asking as I hope it is not a sign of itching.
The other thing I would like to find out about is Moulting... I dont know if Jasper has had a moult yet... How can I tell. That sounds silly I know but I have only in the 8 months I have had him ever found 2 red feathers in the cage, one main wing feather and about 4 or 5 minor wing feathers (sorry I dont know the correct names). So what I would like to know is, How many times in a year can I expect a moult, Will each feather drop out in a moult, Do all the feathers that come out in a moult get replaced,
He is much more confident in his flying now and if he for instance flies to my arm I dont know if I can explain this properly, just before landing he kind of hovers for a second, just preparing to land. He does do something that seems strange though, sometimes he will stand on the cage and grip strongly with his feet and flap the wings strongly. This will last 2 or 3 seconds and might happen 4 or 5 times. Is this normal.
I dont want to waffle on any more so better finish now and hope someone might be able to educate me.
Cheers
Nigel
In the last few weeks Jasper has really come out of his shell, he is now very willing to come out of the cage and if I go toward the cage at all he will readily fly to me usually on my shoulder and just goes about with me. When he is not on me he will sit on a perch that I have screwed to the outsde of the cage now and again climbing inside to eat or drink or just climb ontop. He spends a lot of time preening, or that is what I guess he is doing. That leads to my first question... When he does this to his chest feathers or some under the wings he just seems to ruffle them up, when doing it to the wings the beak starts at thetop of the feather and like runs it down to the tip continually. Does this sound like preening? I am asking as I hope it is not a sign of itching.
The other thing I would like to find out about is Moulting... I dont know if Jasper has had a moult yet... How can I tell. That sounds silly I know but I have only in the 8 months I have had him ever found 2 red feathers in the cage, one main wing feather and about 4 or 5 minor wing feathers (sorry I dont know the correct names). So what I would like to know is, How many times in a year can I expect a moult, Will each feather drop out in a moult, Do all the feathers that come out in a moult get replaced,
He is much more confident in his flying now and if he for instance flies to my arm I dont know if I can explain this properly, just before landing he kind of hovers for a second, just preparing to land. He does do something that seems strange though, sometimes he will stand on the cage and grip strongly with his feet and flap the wings strongly. This will last 2 or 3 seconds and might happen 4 or 5 times. Is this normal.
I dont want to waffle on any more so better finish now and hope someone might be able to educate me.
Cheers
Nigel